The Bourne Shadow
by dewwy dewart
Summary: Eli and Oskar are moving north, avoiding the bodies they've left behind. On the way to Boden, Sweden their story begins with a stranger on a train. There will be weekly installments in the series as Oskar and Eli try to survive and understand who's following them and why. (Spoiler: Jason Bourne might be involved.)
1. Chapter 1

The Bourne Shadow

Chapter 1: Winter Train

The train to Boden, Sweden was nearly empty. Some passengers slept with their heads leaning against the window, some slumped in their seats. Near the front of the train, a young man sat vigilant. His eyes were fixed on the seat in front of him as he listened for movement on the train. His fingers were laced in the hand of the young girl beside him. The winter dark hid the trees and snow as they passed in silence. The only sounds Oskar heard were those of the running train and his own breathing. He knew he was being watched and the cold, weak grip of Eli's hand in his meant that she was hungry. Stockholm had become too dangerous, as had Gavle and Sundsvall. They continued to travel north into the darkness of deep winter with the scent of old death on them.

Living was not difficult for them. Eli was exorbitantly wealthy, Oskar was fit and strong. He grew quickly to enjoy the subtle hunt of murder and Eli cultivated that skill by showering him with affection and gifts. Their happiness was always cut short by the scent of death, the discovery of bodies and the need for secrecy. That secrecy weighed on them both, though neither of them spoke of it. Though Oskar believed the contrary, the blood on his hands continued to harden his heart. Eli knew, and believed it was her job to soften him again, to keep his humanity alive.

It was early, the day had passed in full dark, and Oskar had not slept. He knew he was being hunted. He knew because he had hunted many men and this is how he imagined they must have felt. There was no clear danger but his back was tense, his legs prepared to strike and his hand was on the handle of the knife Eli had carved for him out of love. It bore a phoenix and a lily on either side of the handle. The knife was small, easily concealed and rested in his hand in his coat pocket.

Eli sensed Oskar's distress on the dark train. She was not afraid but she wrestled with some way to pacify him so that he might rest. He would need his strength when they reached Boden. She was hungry, worn from hunger and weary.

"Rest, my love," she whispered in Swedish.

"You don't call me that anymore," Oskar snapped.

Eli raised her sad eyes to his and he was ashamed at speaking angrily to her. He squeezed her hand.

"I'm sorry, my dear. But there is something wrong. I must keep you safe."

She smiled meekly, "You must rest."

"Not yet. We'll go to the toilet. Keep your eyes open. I'm sure there is a man watching us. Find where he is sitting. I'll do the rest."

Eli nodded, stood and walked behind Oskar toward the back of the train so close to him that she stepped on his boots. She giggled and when he heard her he smiled without knowing it. Oskar turned to Eli to see her smiling face because it was such a rarity and when he turned a man near the door of the cabin stood quickly and walked toward the back of the train.

Eli nodded ahead of them, "Him."

Oskar turned to see the man's back, and they followed him cautiously. From what Oskar could see the man was relatively young, well-groomed and wore a foreign jacket and boots. He did not appear Swedish. They followed him through the cabins. As they neared the rear cabin the man vanished. He'd closed the door between them and then he was gone.

Oskar and Eli walked to the very back and she looked out the window at the dark parallel lines that reflected the light of the moon. Oskar turned, protecting Eli with his body, and looked hard at all the heads in the cabin. There were only four and none were the well kempt man they'd followed to the back of the train.

"We should ask," Eli said.

Oskar nodded and chose an older woman who read by the light of a lamp. She was the only one who appeared awake and she was sitting by the door.

"Excuse me."

The woman placed her book in her lap gently.

"Did you see our friend? He just walked back here and we seem to have lost him," he laughed awkwardly. "I know it's difficult to lose someone on a train, but I managed it."

It was a tactic Oskar had picked up over the years. He disarmed people with an awkward charm, a tilt of the head and a shrug.

"No one besides you has come back here, my dears. Are you sure you are well?" She referred to Eli.

Oskar spoke, "My sister's been ill. We're headed to our parent's cottage. My father's a doctor." He looked embarrassed. "I waited too long to take her home."

The woman eyed Oskar skeptically then turned back to Eli. "Young lady?"

"My brother is being kind. I have cancer. I'm making the trip home to die."

The woman was taken aback. The girl was weak but carried an unmistakable gravitas when she spoke. It was as though she couldn't lie.

"I see. I'm sorry to pry but, you know. We must be careful these days."

Oskar nodded and they moved to the next cabin to decide what they should do. When they sat down Eli spoke.

"He's gone. Rest now."

Oskar was only more uncomfortable, "No one vanishes. Do you think the woman was lying?"

"No."

Eli was always right about whether someone was lying.

"Then there is something truly wrong. Where did he go?"

Eli stroked Oskar's hand, "There is nothing to say there was ever any danger, Oskar. Go to sleep. I'll watch over you."

But it was impossible. Oskar made two more passes of the train, Eli trailing closely behind him, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. They sat back down at the front of the train. Oskar was very tired. Neither of them noticed a handsome man had taken a seat across from them.

"Long train rides make me restless," the stranger said. He spoke Swedish very well but he was clearly from somewhere else. Oskar tried to pinpoint the accent as he spoke.

Eli responded, "Forgive us, but my brother needs to sleep."

The stranger smiled, "Right, I apologize. I'm just a bit nervous in a new country."

"Ah, you are not Swedish? I wouldn't have known," Eli lied. "Still. We'd like to rest."

"Of course."

The train pressed slowly on and Oskar gave in to his fatigue for a little while. Eli sensed violence in the stranger but did not tell Oskar. She was hungry and restless as the train closed on Boden station so she spoke with the stranger across from them.

"What brings you to Boden?"

The stranger smiled, "History."

"Ah. History?"

"I fancy myself an historian, particularly the trains and train systems of Europe."

Eli could sense neither a lie, nor truth. It was the murky middle ground of speech where the best lying was done. This was a dubious man.

"The winter is not the best time for the study of trains," she chided.

He smiled again, "Too true. But there is only so much time in life, and so many paths to discover."

Oskar gently squeezed Eli's hand to alert her that he was awake and listening.

"And you?" the stranger asked.

"Home for holiday."

"Yes, that is coming up. Isn't it? Time does fly."

The conversation was forced, etched with deceit, and precarious. Oskar could not understand what the man might want. Eli was equally uncertain. What was certain was that he was not their friend. And Eli was hungry.

The train speaker chimed, fifteen minutes to Boden.

"Almost there," the stranger said. "Is there any chance I can accompany you from the station to the town. I have never been to Boden and the constant dark still unnerves me."

Oskar tensed. Eli salivated. They both knew what the other was thinking.

"I'm sorry but I don't think…" Oskar began.

Eli interrupted, "I know a very fine place."

The stranger seemed happy. In Eli's mind she saw the field near the inn where they would drain the man of blood. Oskar had been pitiless in killing and refused to disclose who he had murdered to feed Eli. That sort of callous disregard for humanity would prove detrimental for them if it continued. It was a very different thing to find an old dead man in a gutter than to hear about a string of missing girls. Eli played Oskar's humanity against his hatred, hoping for some insight that might put him at peace with the killing and not go the way of so many others, the way of needless slaughter.

Tonight, though, there was a questionable man who wanted to follow her into the darkness. It was risky and Oskar would disapprove because he hated her to feed in the open and vulnerable, but the scent of the man was already in her nostrils. The stranger would not survive.


	2. Chapter 2

"Is it not possible for a shadow to linger in the darkness, Oskar?"

Chapter 2:

Eli skipped happily off the train followed by the stranger with Oskar close behind him. It was a pincer no one had ever survived. The stranger seemed not to notice the danger he was in. The cold shattered Oskar's lungs like a thousand tiny splinters and he covered his face with his scarf. He looked devilish, his body covered in heavy gray wool with only a lock of his shining blonde hair in his murderous eyes. Eli hummed loudly and giggled as she skipped deeper into the darkness so that her prey and Oskar would not lose her.

The ground was laden with snow. They walked behind the houses at the edge of the hamlet. It was an odd way to go but the stranger seemed as unperturbed as the duo. In fact, he seemed more at ease the farther they were from the light. Oskar found the man's behavior odd, but as long as he made no move to attack they were safe. The light of the town crept between the rows of houses and off into the forest on their flank. With his hand resting on the carving knife in his pocket, Oskar's mind wandered for a moment to the stranger who'd vanished from the train.

Oskar focused on the crunching snow under his feet and the heat of his breath on his covered face as he hardened his heart for the killing blow to come. He was a few paces behind the stranger when he heard Eli begin whistling what he called "The Requiem". It was a lilting song, dipping into the darkness of his soul and dragging the ugliness into the open air then chasing it back into his chest with staccato pulses. It was a song one couldn't forget. It swept through one's ears, through his hair and along the contours of his body until he was naked with the haunting melody. It was impossible to believe such a small girl could whistle such a soulful song. No one had asked because anyone who had heard it was only a moment from death.

The song stopped suddenly. It wilted, then flourished as it has always done. Then it died on Eli's lips. Oskar had dropped his eyes to the feet of the stranger and missed the flickering light that had stopped Eli. He was within arm's length of the stranger ready to draw the life quickly from him when Eli's voice spoke brightly.

"Not too far, there. You see those lights?"

She pointed ahead at where she had seen the flickering light. There was no inn ahead but Oskar understood there was someone ahead of them beyond the houses and any sound of distress would alert them. Oskar knew what would happen next. They would become lost, led by Eli into some other, safer burrow of solitude.

"That was an odd tune," the stranger said. It was the only thing he'd said on the walk.

"Not far now," Oskar responded having taken a few steps back, out of the killing zone.

Then Eli was gone. There had been no crunching snow, no humming, nothing. She was there. Then she was not. Oskar stood alone in the dark with the stranger, uncertain. He scanned the rooftops but there was no silhouette. There was no sound to cue him to her location. The stranger still hadn't noticed her disappearance so Oskar pretended nothing had happened, but his heart began to race. Something had happened, something extraordinary.

There was a flickering of light that crossed their path as they walked, as though there was someone walking in tandem with them on the other side of the row of houses. Oskar assumed it was Eli, but couldn't imagine why she would change her tactic. Again, he remembered the man who'd vanished from the train. Eli had never spoken of other vampires but Oskar knew of nothing else that could vanish at will. They were nearing an intersection where everything would be lit for a few moments. The stranger would know Eli had disappeared.

Oskar wasn't sure what to do. He took up a position beside the stranger so that if Eli attacked from the alley the man would still be between them.

"Do you hear something?" the stranger asked suddenly. He had stopped walking.

Oskar stopped and listened. It was afternoon and he heard some activity on the street near the square some ways off, but that was all. "Nope. Come on."

"Your sister."

Oskar lowered his scarf for a moment to speak. "Ah. She gets ahead of me sometimes."

"Right, then. Are we close?"

"Very," Oskar smiled.

They took two more steps.

Something large surged from the alley beside them.

The stranger grunted and both men fell to the ground. Oskar had had the wind knocked out of him by the force the blow. He rolled quickly to his feet and a searing pain shot from his leg through his body. The stranger had beaten him to his feet and seemed to be fending off another man. Oskar searched quickly for Eli but she was nowhere. Oskar stood, favoring his left leg with the knife in his right while he watched the two men fight.

The stranger moved quickly, landing a flurry of blows on the other man until his hand was caught in a lock and the man from the alley dropped to his knees with the stranger's arm. There was a snap, then the stranger tried to cry out but the other man rose again and elbowed him in the throat. The stranger staggered then feigned falling swinging his leg in a wide kick that dropped the other man to the ground. The stranger's left wrist was broken and swung wildly as he used it to fend off his attacker while they wrestled in the snow. Oskar was amazed at their speed. He had no idea what danger he'd been in. If he hadn't killed the stranger in a single slice of his blade he could not have contained him.

There were grunts and the heavy thuds of slamming blows as the men pummeled each other until the man from the alley spun to his feet and caught the stranger's swinging arm with his leg before slamming back down on his chest, knocking the air from his lungs. He wrestled the stranger's body from the ground and turned him on his stomach, the stranger's head locked in the other man's arm. It was a death lock and either the stranger's neck would be broken or he would suffocate. Oskar could do nothing but stare for a moment at the man who was doing his work for him. Then he realized the danger he was in. This man could also kill him if he didn't run. He could be an accomplice as far as the other man was concerned.

Oskar stepped to run, but staggered. Something was wrong. He looked down and saw blood on his leg. The knife he held in his hand was bloodied. _The fool_ , he thought, _I've stabbed myself!_ He staggered away as quickly as possible into the woods. He'd never run for his life before, not really. It was colder than any winter wind, and hot like fire. He thought of Eli and his need to protect her. Where could she have gone? He knew the blood would betray his escape. He hoped Eli might find him before the maniac who'd killed the stranger could finish him. Maybe together they could overpower him. But she was weak, and know Oskar was injured.

 _What a mess_ , he thought to himself as he leaned against a tree to catch his breath. He'd made it to the woods and he could still hear the grunting of a fight. It was unlikely the stranger could have escaped the grasp of the unknown man. What was going on? Oskar could see shadows, outlines in the snow. That was all.

"Eli," he whispered, "Eli, where are you?"

Part of him hoped she had escaped.

Oskar hissed through his teeth as he staggered deeper into the woods. Eli would smell his blood and find him if she could. The attacker might forget about him. He'd failed so miserably. The cold grasped him like a spiteful ghost as he wandered, leaning here and there on trees as he moved. He'd found the cover of full dark. That was something. Only Eli could see in the dark. Unless what had attacked him wasn't human. Then he was lost, anyway. As his blood coursed from his leg he thought only of the waste. Eli needed the blood that spilled down his leg and stained the snow behind him. So small and precious, she needed him. And he'd failed her.


	3. Chapter 3

"The cold only seeps into your bones. The darkness, that's what you have to watch out for. That seeps into your mind."

Chapter 3: Prey

There was a thin layer of fresh snow on Oskar's body when he was roused by someone in the dark.

"Eli," he whimpered.

"No, now get up. I couldn't find the other one. He's still after us." It was a man's voice, willful and strong. He grabbed Oskar by the collar and dragged him to his feet.

Oskar, weak and dizzy from blood loss tried to push the man away meekly. He failed.

"Can you walk?" the shadow asked.

"No. Maybe with help," Oskar responded. It seemed the man wanted to help him, and with Eli gone he was the only one who would.

"What's wrong with you?"

"My leg, stabbed."

The shadow felt for the wound and Oskar moved away, but the shadow persisted and felt the strongly knotted scarf a few inches below his groin. It was difficult to tell in the dark but the way Oskar was acting meant he may have nicked an artery. He needed immediate attention. The shadow made sure the tunicate was tight and took Oskar's weight onto his shoulder.

"Do you live here?"

"Yes," Oskar said, "I have a cabin. It's a few miles up the road."

"We'll need a vehicle."

"No," Oskar grunted. He didn't want to draw any attention to himself. Though he'd been careful over the past few years, people had taken his picture in the dark. Nothing concrete enough to make him worry. Still, if he were arrested for stealing a car, both he and Eli would be in danger.

"We walk," Oskar said, finally.

"Are you sure? Your life's at risk."

"I'm sure."

The shadow didn't argue. He didn't lead them through the light of the town. Instead he walked cautiously through the forest near the road. He stopped from time to time in the silence to listen for activity in the dark. Ultimately though, he knew it was a frivolous exercise. If the man who'd escaped him was anything but a fool he'd have heat sensitive night vision goggles and could see them from a quarter mile or more away. They were being hunted, the shadow knew. He only hoped they wouldn't be attacked before they reached the cabin where he could set up some line of defense.

Oskar gave some vague directions before passing out and the dark man took him on his back and waded through the snow. The snow fell harder, and the he hoped it was falling so hard that even night vision couldn't see their bodies moving in the darkness.

Some time passed before the man saw the outline of a cabin, shimmering snow on a slanting roof top. He dropped Oskar heavily against the wall beside the door and took a few cold breaths before he edged toward the window to look inside. It was possible the man hunting them had already found the cabin. There was no light within, no sound and no fog on the windows that might represent someone had gone inside.

Then he heard the sudden click of the door lock and pulled the knife from his shoe. He moved silently toward the door, back against the wall, until he was at the door frame and ready to incapacitate anyone who walked through the door or surprise anyone within.

"Oskar!"

It was the sound of surprise, and it was a girl.

The man considered leaving. The girl hadn't seen him and there was still someone hunting him.

His decision was made though when the girl asked politely, "Please, help me bring him inside."

"I'm sorry," he said uncertainly, "I need to go."

"He's very heavy. I cannot carry him in by myself."

The shadow relented and pulled Oskar into the room. There was no light and he could see nothing.

"Here," the girl's voice called out. "There is a mattress here. Are they dead?" the girl asked in a whisper.

"One," the man replied. "The other escaped."

"There were three," the girl responded.

He was uncertain whether to trust her, but her voice was sure and there was no harm in taking the precaution of considering a third assailant.

"Then there are still two out there," he said simply.

"I'm sorry for the darkness but I was afraid they might find me if I lit a fire."

The man was certain this was the same girl he'd seen in the alley before he ambushed the assassin who was walking with them. She couldn't have been older than eleven or twelve but she behaved much older. She was clearly a clever girl.

"Eli?" he asked.

"Yes."

"This man said your name. He told me how to get here."

"Who are you?"

"Jason."

"I'm sorry you're here, Jason," Eli said with sincere sadness because she was hungry, too hungry to find new prey. Jason would be her meal.

Jason understood none of her inflection, "Your friend was injured because of me. This is my apology. I'm afraid I might need to open his leg. He may not have very long. Do you have a flashlight?"

Eli moved through the small house deftly, gathering supplies.

"I'll also need alcohol, thread and…"

The supplies he needed were already in his hand. Eli could have done the job herself but she was very tired. She worried about Oskar and Jason. Jason seemed to be a good man and Eli was loathe to kill him outright.

"Please hold the light over the wound," Bourne asked.

Eli complied, careful to keep herself from being too clearly seen. She looked ragged and emaciated, almost dead. Bourne's fingers were cold so he rubbed his hands together and breathed into them for a moment before pouring alcohol on the knife and cutting into Oskar's leg.

"We're lucky," he said after a few minutes, "It's closed up now."

Eli was using all her strength not to drink the seeping blood from Oskar's leg. She turned her head away but the scent of it was in her nostrils. She was ravenous and she knew Oskar would happily die so she might survive. But first she'd have to kill Jason or risk her secret. She was uncertain.

"Where did you leave the body?" She asked before Jason had fully stitched Oskar's leg. She couldn't stand the scent any longer.

"One second. I'm almost done. Then we can talk."

"Where?" She shouted. "Tell me!"

Bourne, startled, looked up into her murderous eyes. He was suddenly on guard, prepared to use the same knife he'd used to save Oskar to kill Eli. Then the murderous demeanor was gone as quickly as it had come.

"I'm sorry," Eli said. "But he may have some clue on him. I want to know why they did this." She half lied to Bourne. She would like to know if these men were after her, or after Oskar. But she needed the man's blood and every moment meant the blood might spoil in his veins and be wasted. That blood was the key to her not killing Jason or Oskar, the key to saving them all.

"I can't let you go outside," Bourne said.

"You can't stop me," Eli responded defiantly.

The girl was very strange.

"You don't want to go out there."

"I left something very important when I ran away. I need it," Eli pleaded skillfully.

"More important than your friend?"

She thought on her feet. "He can't survive without it. It's his medicine."

Bourne was resolute, "Ok. Tell me where it is. I'll go find it."

Eli countered, "You couldn't find it in the dark. This is my town and I know where I dropped it. I'll be back soon."

"No!" Bourne insisted.

But Eli was already at the door, "I must."

So Jason Bourne was left alone in a dark cabin with Oskar, who might die without a transfusion. He still didn't know what the assassins wanted with him. All he knew when he saw them on the train was that they were killers.


End file.
